Toronto FC Head Coach Aron Winter is happy with the pace of training during the team’s first three days of preseason in Turkey. Following the squad’s arrival late Friday night at the Calista Luxury Resort, Winter has taken his players through four sessions; one on Saturday, two Sunday and one on Monday Morning.




“It has been good to get out on the pitch over the last few days,” said Winter. “All of the facilities are top quality and it has been a good pace so far.” Sunday’s second session saw training intensify with the first intra squad competition of camp where players took part in matches of nine against nine.




“It has been good so far,” said Toronto FC captain Dwayne De Rosario. “After a long flight all of the guys have been getting their legs back under them during the first two or three days and it has been nice to start working with the ball. The atmosphere is upbeat.”




“The guys have responded very well so far to the way the coach wants them to play and I am looking forward to continued progress through preseason. He is starting already to implement his ideas on how the game should be played and we have been doing a lot of work with the ball,” added De Rosario.




In other news, the kick off time has now been confirmed for Toronto FC’s first match of preseason. The team will play Partizan Belgrade on Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. local time (10 a.m. ET). The Serbian side is also training in Antalya as they prepare to return from their winter break.




“It is a pity that the first game is coming so quickly with only three or four days of training, but it will still be useful,” said Winter. “For me at this moment the first two games are not so important. We have to keep training and building.”




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